Mark Steyn Goes Off on Upcoming Movie About Hunting Trump Supporters

With so many movies being made at any time, some people have come to prefer films that are not part of a huge franchise, while others look for new and different ideas. While the second choice might seem like it's always a good thing, a new film these days could contain very disturbing images or unlikable characters that can turn off the average movie fan.

That’s certainly the case with a film from Universal Studios entitled The Hunt, in which the heroes are “several so-called deplorables from red states who have to fight back after several rich liberals kidnap them and try to murder them for sport.”

That movie was brought up by Brian Kilmeade, co-host of Fox & Friends, guest-hosting Tucker Carlson's show. He called the film “a really strange movie coming out next month” and joked to guest Mark Steyn, “I love the plot. What could possibly be wrong with it?”

Steyn agreed with that description before adding:

I get bored by X-Men 37 in which cardboard man battles franchise girl up in the sky and rips a hole in the space-time continuum.

So I actually -- I actually approve of making films telling stories about the way we live now.

“We live in an increasingly fractious, 50/50 nation,” Steyn stated, and “if you’re a playwright, if you’re a novelist, if you’re a filmmaker, why wouldn’t you want to address that?”

He noted that “[t]he interesting thing to me is how they treat this; and again, it’s the same condescension we’ve just seen that essentially it’s elites who decide they’re going to hunt deplorables," adding it's like "the liberal Twitter storm fantasy taken to the next level.”

Even now on Twitter, he noted, liberals “destroy your career, get you fired, close down your restaurant, but this so-called satire actually wants to take it to the next level and make it actually -- take the cold Civil War and make it a hot Civil War.”

The conversation next turned to actress Rosanna Arquette, who “has made a bizarre apology for her skin color in a tweet yesterday."

Arquette said this: “I am sorry I was born white and privileged. It disgusts me, and I feel so much shame.”

Steyn noted that this situation “gets back to, I think, that class thing” because the actress “lived the most privileged life in one of the most luxurious, niche societies in Hollywood that has ever existed on the planet.”

“[I]t's a shame we’ve gotten to this,” Kilmeade noted, though “I think most people can see through it.”

“We’re not looking at the color of people’s skin,” he continued. “[I]t’s really the content of their character, and I’d rather not be dragged into it, but it keeps popping up and it’s all over these debates coming up again in September.”

MARK STEYN: Well, I think as Chadwick was saying that doing this to make an example, to say that they take seriously the idea of the deplorables. So there are 60 million people who voted for Donald Trump, but none of them matter and so if you are prepared to put your neck out and hold a fundraiser for Donald Trump in the Hamptons, you can’t do that. You can’t be one of the beautiful people. You can’t go to any of the fashionable post-Oscar parties. You can’t be at the Broadway first nights, you cannot — you can be one of those 60 million deplorables somewhere out of sight, but if you’re a billionaire, and you — and you’re someone who should be a member of the liberal elite, and you step out of that little box, they’re going to destroy you to teach other members of the elite, you don’t go anywhere near Donald Trump.

KILMEADE: Are we still pretending as if we don’t get Donald Trump? He has been in the public eye for decades. He has been President now for three years. He’s been running for two and we know what happens. It’s not a matter who you are, the color of your skin, or your gender. Are you attacking him? Elijah Cummings attacked his Homeland Security Secretary; the President attacked Elijah Cummings not because he’s black. It doesn’t mean he is racist. The Squad came after President Trump, he went back not because they’re women, not because they’re minorities -- because they attacked him. We know this combination, don’t we?

STEYN: Yeah and realistically, Donald Trump is a New York businessman and if you’re there on Fifth Avenue doing business, you’re doing business with people every skin color, every conceivable orientation, every conceivable type of non-binary, whatever you want to call it, but as Tucker was saying, I think just a couple of nights ago, they use race and identity politics -- the left does -- as a cover for class and actually, elite versus deplorables is actually how they see it.

KILMEADE: Alright. I know you wish Tucker was here. You keep referring back to him. He is fishing with his son.

STEYN: No, no, no. You’re doing great, Brian. Don’t get demoralized.

KILMEADE: You’ve got it. There’s a really strange movie coming out next month. Universal is releasing a new film, it’s called The Hunt. The movies heroes are several so-called deplorables from red states who have to fight back after several rich liberals kidnap them and try to murder them for sport. Mark, I love the plot. What could possibly be wrong with it?

STEYN: Well, you know, I will say this. I get bored by X-Men 37 in which cardboard man battles franchise girl up in the sky and rips a hole in the space time continuum. So I actually -- I actually approve of making films telling stories about the way we live now. We live in an increasingly fractious, 50/50 nation, and if you’re a playwright, if you’re a novelist, if you’re a filmmaker, why wouldn’t you want to address that? The interesting thing to me is how they treat this; and again, it’s the same condescension we’ve just seen that essentially it’s elites who decide they’re going to hunt deplorables because they’ve seen their tweets identifying themselves as pro-life, anti-abortion and it is actually the liberal Twitter storm fantasy taken to the next level. On Twitter, they just destroy your career, get you fired, close down your restaurant, but this so-called satire actually wants to take it to the next level and make it actually -- take the cold Civil War and make it a hot Civil War.

KILMEADE: Well okay, so you’re happy it’s not a Marvel movie or a Star Wars 29, but I will say this. They pulled the promos for it, but not the movie. Next, another Hollywood story for you because I know you love the elite, actress Rosanna Arquette gets a lot of trophies and she has made a bizarre apology for her skin color in a tweet yesterday. Let’s go to it. She says this, “I am sorry I was born white and privileged. It disgusts me, and I feel so much shame.” Mark, your witness?

STEYN: Yeah. Again, this gets -- that gets back to I think that class thing. We have an issue here with Rosanna Arquette who’s lived the most privileged life in one of the most luxurious, niche societies in Hollywood that has ever existed on the planet. She doesn’t mean this. She does -- she does not mean this at all and this idea of taking virtue signaling, where Kirsten Gillibrand did this at one of the debates. She was all. “Yes, I’m a white woman of privilege, too.” Meanwhile, you have someone like Cory Booker, who’s been to Harvard, Oxford and Yale Law School -- the three best universities on the planet pretending he’s like some homie from the hood. This -- this identity politics virtue signaling is now departing from any conceivable reality.

KILMEADE: It’s a -- it’s a shame we’ve gotten to this. I think most people can see through it. We’re not looking at the color of people’s skin, it’s really the content of their character, and I’d rather not be dragged into it, but it keeps popping up and it’s all over these debates coming up again in September.

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